Inquiry Statement
I would like to know more about what elements make up good music and how a computer can be taught to understand and recreate all the aspects required for a good composition.

Research Questions

What basic components should I break composition into to alleviate the task of random generation?

Which methods of algorithmic composition should I focus on?

What should my end goal be? Is it a realistic goal to create a full composition toolkit in a single year?

What practical use, if any, would such a toolkit have?

Would people oppose the idea of random music generate with arguments such as "it takes the soul out of music"?

Reflection
I have spent most of this week researching methods of algorithmic composition and working on programming the composition toolkit. I have found lots of helpful resources and I feel that I am ready to dive right in to pioneering the methods of composition. I'm feeling confident that I'm going to really love my topic when I start getting into the gritty details and the real work. At the moment I feel that my thesis is going to be weighted more towards the creative side than the research side. I'm already well acquainted with most of the methods of composition, and I'm really much more interested in developing my own and putting them to use than reading about theoretical nonsense that hasn't even been implemented. Less words, more action!

Where is it going?
As of right now, I have very ambitious goals for my thesis. By the time it is completed, I would like to have created my own original program capable of producing completely original compositions with a high amount of variety.